Archive for the ‘Blue’ Category

I meant to post these during all the Cultober festivities, but the last two weeks at work have been hellish. The upside is that I was so distracted by work that I managed to go nearly two full weeks without buying anything (woo hoo for small victories); the down side is that I neglected the blog big time. I also nervously picked at my nails the whole time such that they are now injured, little nubbins. The nubbins were also accompanied by peeling, oh the horrible peeling. My nails are in such bad shape, they have never been like this before. I can’t figure out whether the peeling is a result of my nervous picking (both from using my nails to pick and from the damage to the nail bed caused by peeling off nail polish) or whether it’s the new base coat I’ve been using, Nail Tek Foundation III. To combat these issues, I picked up some Biotin today. The next couple of weeks will be stressful too, but they shouldn’t be as bad as the last two. I’m making a conscious effort to stop picking. Hopefully, we’ll see some improvement too.

In any case, the polishes in this post were my biggest Cult lemmings. And, oh boy, they are every bit as amazing as I hoped they would be. All four polishes were worn as manis. I was very impressed with the quality, good consistency, perfect application and wear. The bottle style is standard and sturdy. I liked the brush style too. These retail for $10.00 on the Cult Nails website. All in all, I’m pretty impressed with this brand.

Cult Nails Awakening… LOVE IT. I first saw this color on twitter, instant lemming. Subsequently, I went into a panic when Maria tweeted that this color was being discontinued and that supplies were running low. I’m so glad I was able to get my hands on this before it was gone. (Hopefully, Maria will bring it back some day). Awakening is a very deep, dark muted teal that leans toward blue as opposed to green. I would say this is a crelly, definitely more creme than jelly. This is 3 coats, excellent application. I wore this one to work. Not exactly work appropriate but I thought it was subtle enough that it wouldn’t offend anyone. The wear was outstanding: 5 days, no chips.

Cult Nails Vicious, another beauty, is a dark, red-leaning plum creme. The color is very well pigmented, great formula and application. Perfectly opaque at two coats. I used Vicious as the base for an evolving mani that I will post soon.

Cult Nails I Got Distracted is fine holographic glitter and small green hexagonal glitter suspended in a blackened green base. This was another twitter-initiated lemming and it’s pretty amazing. Totally not work appropriate but I wore it to work anyway because I’m a sneaky-sneak. My husband said it was okay because even though it’s blingtastic-like-whoa, the darkness of the base makes it as subtle as something this blingy can be. This mani was 3 coats, but it was good at 2. IGD is a top coat eater for sure, I used 3 coats of Gelous and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Cult Nails Living Water is blue and green micro glitter suspended in a dark blue jelly base. I love colors like this, dark and sparkly without being ‘in your face.’ It dries a bit matte so I used a coat of Gelous under Wicked Fast. People are constantly raving about Wicked Fast – the jury is still out for me but my initial impressions were good. It was ultra glossy and it dried very quickly to the touch.

Here’s a side shot to exhibit the gorgeous glitter. Finally, like the others, the application and wear was awesome.

I’m really looking forward to picking up some polishes by Cult. Do you have any Cult favorites that I need to own?

One thing that I’ve found striking now that I’m blogging again is the abundance of new (or new to me) brands that have sprung up in my absence. Julep is one of the “new to me” brands that popped up on my radar when I returned. This collection is my first experience with this company. Unfortunately, these polishes, while gorgeous, are too “out-there” for work, so I haven’t had a chance to wear these yet. Consequently, these photos are all swatches. I do have some work appropriate Juleps that I plan to rock soon so I’ll post my thoughts on wear, drying time, etc. in the future. With regard to this collection, it is touted as pedi-specific, but as every polish addict knows – brights are for finger nails, silly nail polish companies.

Julep Lauren is a neon hot pink. This was an unexpected neon – in the bottle, it just looked like a regular hot pink creme but on the nail it really popped. It dried matte, as most neons do, so I used SV as a top coat. I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did, but it was pretty flattering to my olive complexion. I don’t know why, but I always feel like these colors are really sexy once I’m wearing them. This swatch is 4 coats, it was good at 3 coats but I had slight VPL. Formula was fine, no major application issues.

Julep Claire is a medium sky blue creme. My swatch is not color accurate, I apologize for my constant inability to capture blues properly. In real life, the shade is a lighter hue of blue. My first thought when I saw Claire was that it would be dupe-y to Zoya Yummy, OPI Just Groovy and Misa Right Here Now, No More Later. It’s not, Claire is greener in comparison. Claire, unlike Lauren, gave me some application problems. The formula was very thick, and the thickness problem was compounded by a wonky, bushy brush. This polish would have benefitted from a good old-fashioned thinning. This swatch is 4 coats. It would have been good at 3, but the pigments in this color are very unforgiving of nail imperfections (which I have a ton of right now) so I added an extra coat to cover the bumps and groves on the surface of my nails.

Julep Lily is a bright neon fuchsia. The photo is fairly accurate but the shade is a touch lighter in real life. It dries matte, so I used SV as a top coat and 3 coats of color. Like Claire, Lily was very thick. I decided not to thin it because I think Lily and Lauren would be a good combination for a marble mani – I’ve never done one before but I imagine using a thicker polish would work better. We shall see… if not, Lily will be getting a thinning as well.

Julep Morgan is a violet toned frosty purple with blue and fuchsia microshimmer. The photo is a bit inaccurate. This polish is less blurple in real life and way more violet. It reminds me a lot of the OPIs of yesteryear. This swatch is 3 coats + SV. I didn’t have application issues at all with this one, which leads me to believe the thickness in the other polishes resulted from the neon pigments.

Julep is big 4-free and retails for $14.00. They are available on the Julep site and at Sephora. The bottle design is aesthetically pleasing, slender and square-shaped with a paint splash cut-out on the side of the bottle. However, the design is impractical and unstable. I kept feeling like the bottle was going to tip over at any minute. Additionally, the bottles are pretty small in comparison to other “higher end” brands, which means you aren’t getting the same bang for your buck. Julep has a monthly beauty box service called Julep Maven. I’m not a maven and I don’t know much about it, but I’m assuming that being a Maven makes these polishes more affordable. I would say it’s definitely worth looking into if you are hoarding-inclined. While I was doing background research for this post – I saw that there was a ton of drama with the program last year as well as mixed reviews on Julep polishes in terms of wear and drying time, application, etc. I haven’t really formed any final conclusions about Julep yet – I am excited about their new Trina Turk collection (which I should be able to wear, swatch, and post soon) so I think I’ll keep an open mind for the time being.

What are your feelings about Julep? Love it, hate it? Are you a Maven? Is it something I should do (since I happen to be hoarding-inclined, haha)? What are you thoughts?

*Sorry about the lack of pep in this post – I have a HUGE headache, my eyeballs hurt and my vision is all blurry. I’m only posting under these conditions because I wouldn’t have another chance to post until Sunday or Monday and I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging… you know, trying to be a reliable blogger and all. With that said though, I don’t have it in me to reply to comments tonight – I have to get in bed. I promise I will reply to all the comments left on the last post soon. *hugs* If you want me to get in touch with me quickly in the interim, you can catch me on twitter.

This is another strange collection like the Essie Yogaga collection. There’s been some coverage online, but most sites (like mine) only have a few colors from the collection. And it seems that at least some of the colors belonging to this collection are possibly re-promotes from another collection, Bohemian Brights. As far as I can tell from the Sephora website, there are six shades in this collection – four are shown here – the other two are What Aura You Gonna Where and It’s Totally Karma. Some sites are treating other shades as belonging to this collection too, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ll try to get some clarification on this.

These photos are all swatches and not NOTDs – I try my best to wear the colors I review but none of these are even mildly work apropos, not even a little. And since I can really only wear one ridic color per week during the weekend, I haven’t had a chance to wear these yet. There were some potential dupes in my stash for two of these colors – I will post comparisons soon but for now I’ve included links to other fab blogs for your viewing pleasure.

Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention to Me! is a bright, vibrant tangerine creamy crelly. It’s way brighter on the nail than in the bottle, shockingly so. This swatch is 3 coats. It applied well but the consistency was a bit strange, almost water-like. I didn’t quite get the name so I googled “paisley,” apparently it’s originally a Persian fabric pattern, made popular along with some Indian fabric patterns during the 1800s by the East Indian Trading Company. *shrugs* Learn something new every day? If I can get my hands of Cirque Neko (sadly sold out), Cirque Debris, or some other awesome black glitter, I might attempt a Halloween jelly sandwich with this one. As far as dupes, it’s tough to tell from bottle shade alone because of PATM’s crelly texture. Bottle-wise China Glaze Style Wars looks very similar but maybe a smidgen deeper. The other similar color in my stash is an older pre-2009 OPI that… HAS NO LABEL – OOOOH HOHOHOTHE HORROR!!!!!

I took it to the nail board, sadly we weren’t able to come to a consensus. I believe it’s OPI Atomic Orange. It’s definitely not Tangerine Scene or Osaka to me Orange – I have those and they both still have labels. : ( In any case, I’ll post comparison swatches soon (which will be totally not helpful to anyone since I have no idea what color this is, haha).

Sephora by OPI I’m So Sari is really complex. The base color is turquoise, the shimmer is very dense glass fleck, and the whole thing is topped off with small hexagonal holographic glitter. The glass fleck shimmer gives it a textured and somewhat foiled finish. It’s not a jelly, but the consistency is sheer-ish during application. Even so, application was issue-free. This polish was fine at 3 coats, but I was going for glitter-bomb-ultra-bling so the swatch is 4 coats. This polish eats top coat – this is two coats of Gelous and one coat of Seche. Overall, this one is pretty unique, the concept seems similar to Deborah Lippmann Mermaid’s Dream. Clearly, not dupes in anyway but maybe a suitable lemming place-holder.

Sephora by OPI Henna-Thing is Possible is a deep fuchsia with purple flash microshimmer that gives it a somewhat frosty finish that Sephora calls “metallic.” The application was excellent. This shade looks so familiar to me but I couldn’t find anything exactly like it in my stash. Even so, I feel like I’ve seen it before. In terms of base shade, the closest polishes in my stash were Zoya Tama, Zoya Anaka, and the coveted China Glaze It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere. Obviously IFOS has that bluish glow and glass fleckies that make it so special – but the base shade is pretty close.

Annnnd my favorite one from this collection, Sephora by OPI Seriously, It’s a Naan-Issue, a deep, gorgeous, dark purple. This is as dark as purple can get and still be purple. This was great at 2 coats, but I did 3 per usu. I’m pretty impressed with this color – I had no dupes for it. It was a shade between Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas and China Glaze VIII. When I say I’m mostly indifferent to purple, I mean purple shimmers… purple creme, however, gets me every time. Love it.

I do apologize for not having the whole collection to show you. I’ll probably skip buying What Are You Gonna Wear, but the lime-y-ness of It’s Totally Karma is calling my name. What do you think? Pick it up or leave it be?

Sooo… any idea what my mystery old OPI might be?

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Sephora’s PR.

The saddest thing about my absence was that I missed a lot of really amazing collections. Since coming back, I have been on a ‘do or die’ mission to catch up on everything I’ve missed. Rescue Beauty Lounge, in particular, released a ton of polishes that I feel like I NEED (yes, I’m still a major RBL fangirl, like whoa). Diddy Mow might actually be my new Zulu. I missed out on Insouciant and Recherche but was lucky enough to pick them up in a blog sale recently. And finally, Ji will be re-releasing Pui Mosso and Aqua Lily in November – thank the polish gods because I really *need* those too. And, of course, the Tudors. While I spent the past 3 years tuned out of the nail polish world, I did catch wind of this collection, only to sadly miss out during the original release. It is freaking awesome that these were re-released as a part of the Bring it Back series (and that, consequently, they have made their way into my evil clutches.)

Aside from being a genuinely awesome collection – it’s conceptually interesting. As a collector, more so than a beauty-aficionado, I am drawn to collections that have interesting concepts, inspirations, etc. Particularly with this collection, the concept sold me immediately. Truly, as a lover of all things British and historical, these polishes could have been OPI and Apple Pie style fug x 4 and I still would have squealed and swooned. Fortunately though, these polishes are impressive in their own right, quite apart from their unique historical theme.

I tried to include some interesting historical facts that I remember from reading Alison Weir’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Of course, it’s been years since I read that book so some of these “facts” might be inaccuracies residual from my love of the Showtime series The Tudors (mmm Henry Cavill *makes Homer donut sounds*). As an aside, I highly recommend anything by Alison Weir if you have any interest in English royal history at all - I’ve read a few of her books and have thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Okay, without further blah blah blah… here are the swatches.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane – loooooove. This is a greige putty, with very light sparse gold shimmer. The shimmer is invisible on the nail – while you can’t really see it, I feel like it does add to the overall color of the polish. This mani was 3 coats – excellent wear and application per usu. I really loved this color, it’s chic and obviously work appropriate for any environment. One aspect of this polish that appealed to me is that it is reflective of Jane Seymour, at least in my opinion. Jane Seymour was Henry VIII’s third and favorite wife. He called her his one true wife. Probably because she gave birth to his first and only surviving legitimate male heir, Edward VI. By all accounts, she was just a class act and I think this color really embodies that.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne – probably my favorite from this collection (me and everyone else on Earth). It’s a very dark green, with complex gold, green, and fuchsia cast shimmer. This is 3 coats, like Jane, great application. The shimmer, which is strangely nearly invisible in bright sunlight, gives it a metallic glow. This quality makes the color not readily identifiable as green. Instead, it reminds me of tarnished metal. For that reason, I did wear this one to work – it’s green without being BAM in your face green, so I didn’t think it would be offensive in an office environment. I wouldn’t classify it as work appropriate by any stretch but I think most people could get away with this one, save for the most conservative environments.

Here’s a bottle shot to exhibit the shimmer more clearly – very tough to capture, but very beautiful. Like Jane, I thought Anne was pretty reflective of its muse, Anne Boleyn. I know Ji was inspired by the fabrics of the time as much as the historical personalities involved – but Jane and Anne were both really on point personality-wise. Anne Boleyn was kind of a badass – just like this color. Henry VIII’s second wife, widely hated in her time and known for swiping Henry from his first wife Catherine of Aragon. She was intelligent, conniving, and powerful. Her (male) contemporaries described her as “more like a man than a woman.” She had immense control over Henry VIII and his court… until she wasn’t able to produce a male heir. Accused of adultery and incest, she lost her head. Historians speculate that Anne’s only daughter the future Queen Elizabeth, who was also kind of a badass, never really got over what happened to her mother – which partially accounted for her aversion to marriage and her sobriquet, The Virgin Queen.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H – I do apologize my photo is not exactly color accurate and my attempts to color correct are sad and pitiful. I would describe it as a muted, but dark periwinkle blue (maybe a touch of violet?) My picture makes it a tad too bright, it’s much more muted and demure in person. This is also three coats, also great application. I think I would classify the mainly blue and fuchsia shimmer as glass fleck. It was also glitter-like in the sense that it ate ALL of my top coat, giving the final mani an overall satin, instead of glossy, sheen. I wore this one to work as well although I wasn’t planning to do so originally. Fate had it that I was taking photos of this collection around the time of the Democratic National Convention (yup, I’m also still a flaming, dirty liberal). I was inspired by FLOTUS to wear muted blue in a professional setting. Rather, I used that as an excuse – If questioned I planned to say – “Hey if Michelle Obama can rock it – so can I!” Of course, as I’ve previously observed, no one cares about my nails and I wore it undisturbed.

Here’s some more shimmery bottle shot goodness. Catherine H is named for Catherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife and a cousin to Anne Boleyn. She was just a child when she married Henry, mostly at the behest of her male relatives who had previously enjoyed much favor when Anne was queen and had aspirations of reviving their former glory. By then, four wives deep, Henry was old and a pretty big dude due to a chronic ulcerated leg injury as a result of a jousting accident. Her contemporaries described her as frivolous and silly, so I think a periwinkle blue is pretty fitting. She was accused of adultery for which she was ultimately beheaded – but unlike Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard was probably guilty.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine – a rich, but greyed-out dark plum. Shimmer, texture, finish-wish this one is more akin to Anne than to Catherine H. No glass flecks here, instead you have complex predominately fuchsia with very fine goldish shimmer and some sparse blue sparkle. Application was good at 2 coats, but I used 3. I really loved this one, despite my general indifference to purple nail polish. I did my first mani with this using a new product (that I will soon be reviewing), Yellow Stopper. BIG MISTAKE. My mani peeled right off, glue basecost style, in the morning. I had to re-do it and in my ridiculous neurosis found myself so disappointed that I was wasting this polish by having to reapply twice within a 12 hour period. (yes, I know, I’m totally weird – double you tea eff.)

Look. at. that. shimmer. g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. This was the only polish out of the set of 4 that I didn’t quite catch the connection with the namesake. Catherine of Aragon was rigid, regal, stubborn, and really, really, really Catholic. I don’t picture her as a purple – and she was such a tragic character, perhaps black or dark grey. She was Henry’s older brother’s wife – but he died before their marriage was consumated. Later, Henry married her for political reasons – her nephew was the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. During the Great Matter, Henry would use Catherine’s marriage to his brother as a partial basis to support his plea for a divorce. Not to over simplify but, basically, the Pope said “hell to the no” and then the Anglican church was born. Her only surviving daughter, Mary I, of Bloody Mary fame, picked up that moniker for burning and maiming hundreds of protestants during her reign as Queen.

My one and only criticism of this collection is that I wish there had been six polishes instead of four (Six wives = Six Polishes!!). I do hope to see RBL do more historically themed collections. (French Revolution Anyone!?!?!? Heian Japan??!?!?! Come on!!!)

Is there any period of history that you would like to see translated into a nail polish collection?

*edited to correct historical inaccuracies – thanks Sue!!*

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge.

This is my first collection review as of the relaunch! I chose to begin with the Zoya Smoke collection for three reasons: first, this collection pretty much encompasses everything I love about nail polish – very rich, creme, smokey, unique, moody colors presented together thematically. Second, I consider many of the colors in this collection to be consistent with the new theme: work appropriate with an edge. Finally, if you follow Zoya on Facebook or Twitter (and if you don’t you really, really should) you know that their Account Holder Buy One Get One Free Sale ends tomorrow one minute before midnight, so I figured this post would be timely for anyone still on the fence about making an order.

This collection might be old news for some, but when I decided to start blogging again this collection really popped out to me after scouring Scrangie’s blog for new lemmings. It was released in Fall of 2011 as one half of the Smoke and Mirrors Collection (I’ll be swatching Mirrors soon). I really love the theme here – the concept of smoke, which evokes images of smoldering color and sultriness, was really well executed. Zoya has seriously stepped up their game while I’ve been away, so hats off to them. Part of the reason, it took all week to get these swatches together for this post is that I wore three of the six colors in this collection as NOTDs. The whole collection is worth owning for anyone into moody cremes.

Zoya Petra was my first NOTD from this collection – I LOVED IT. It’s a dark smokey purple creme. The color in the bottle looks more murky and mushroom-y than the color appears once it’s on the nail – which is significantly darker. This mani was 3 coats. Application was average, not the best but not the worst. On the work-apropos scale – I would say this shade is appropriate for all except the most conservative environments. It’s purple, but it’s not “in your face” – it’s very chic and demure. I know colors like this have been very popular in my absence and since my collection is still frozen in time, I didn’t really have anything comparable in my stash – the closest thing was Sephora by OPI Metro Chic but Petra is much more purple.

Zoya Jana, in the same vein as Petra, is a dusty, moody purple tinged putty taupe creme – this color is chic personified. It even elicited compliments from my husband who very rarely comments on polish. Like Petra, Jana was worn as a NOTD. I got really excellent wear out of it – I think it was over 5 days with no chips using Sally Hansen Nail Quencher as a base-cost and Seche Vite as a top-coat. Also, like Petra, this one dries significantly darker on the nail than it looks in the bottle. Application was great, almost full coverage with one coat. However, the very pigmented formula was not forgiving of nail surface imperfections with less than 3 coats. On the work-apropos scale – in my opinion this one is safe anywhere. The closest color in my collection was Sephora by OPI Call Your Mother, but CYM is much more purple and less muted.

Zoya Anja, another NOTD, is a deep burgundy creme. Vampy goodness all around – I never, ever get tired of vampies. I didn’t spot any exact dupes in my vampy drawer but I don’t own Rescue Beauty Lounge Drifter which Temptalia believes is a very close dupe. This is 2 coats, perfect application. I filed my nails really short, partly to wear this color. I do believe it’s work appropriate on short nails. I’m certainly not telling anyone how to wear their nails, but short is my personal nail length preference for vampies and almost blacks. I often see women around the courthouse wearing darker shades, but always on short nails - accordingly, I believe that’s the social convention for professionals. So, for the time being, I’m labeling this one conditionally work-apropos.

Holy $&$($&^@&*##@#(#&. Zoya Codie – the best way I can describe this is green toned liquid smoke with a creme finish. Definitely in line with the collection theme, smoke. It’s an almost black, but it’s beautiful. Like Petra and Jana, it’s darker on the nail than in the bottle. I wasn’t brave enough to wear this one to work. Sadly, this beauty is probably not work safe for any environment that is even remotely conservative. I’m definitely planning to whip it out on a weekend, when the swatching schedule permits. This swatch is three coats. The formula was a little watery so you have to be careful of pooling during application. Codie is my favorite from this collection.

Zoya Cynthia, my second favorite from this collection, is a smokey teal toned dark navy, almost black. It’s very difficult to see (and my camera totally failed to capture it), but this color has a beautiful ultra fine shimmer that is effectively invisible but gives the polish depth. (It’s shimmer for shimmer-haters like me. Haha.) This swatch is 3 coats, the first coat was very watery. Again, probably not the best choice for most office environments.

And, finally, Zoya Dree, a muted, dusty drab olive green creme. Coverage would have been good at 2 coats, but this swatch is 3 coats. Application on this one was perfect. Like the others in this collection, this one also dried slightly darker on the nail. The first obvious possible dupe would be Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War – but it doesn’t seem close. NMW seems much darker, although it’s tough to judge based on bottle shade alone since Dree appears slightly darker on the nail. I will post comparison pics soon. This one, again, is probably not office appropriate.

In case anyone is looking for more Zoya swatches for the BOGO Sale – check out my Zoya Category for your lemming creation needs. : D Are you planning to get, or have you gotten, anything from the sale? I know some girls hauled big time!

In other news, should you stumble upon the nail art article in the September issue of Allure and you might recognize nails belonging to a certain someone. : ) You can see the post that that photo came from here: Cover Girl Crackle Lacquer.

My husband and I got engaged last year. So, obviously, the most important decision I made after that was deciding what to do with my nails for the wedding (totally not kidding). This was an arduous process – the stash was thoroughly examined, scrutinized, and analyzed. When I first set out to plan my wedding mani, I wanted to do something different. Soft shades are obvious, I wanted something more unique. I stumbled upon Oscar De La Renta’s Spring 2013 Bridal Collection and fell in love with this concept.

A subtle, light watery blue mani accented with opal-like blue toned jewelry. I wouldn’t have to do much searching as there were a few options in my stash that could mimic that look, China Glaze Moody Blue and Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom immediately came to mind. Unfortunately, and probably not surprisingly, my Mom was less than thrilled with my blue nails idea. So, in the end, to minimize stress, I decided to compromise and go with more typical wedding fare. Some of you are going to be disappointed, haha, that I decided to do a standard french, using Essie Mademoiselle and Essie Marshmallow. But I did spice it up a bit with two coats of Orly Twilight.

Orly Twilight is a gorgeous sheer layering polish – it consists of very fine iridescent silver toned shimmer suspended in somewhat cloudy clear polish. Mostly, I’ve seen Twilight layered over darker shades, but it’s very pretty over lighter shades. In my case, it added the perfect amount of glam to my potentially boring standard french. I did consider a holographic topcoat – but after several swatching attempts, I thought it look a little too ‘young’ for the style I was trying to achieve. I, sadly, did go to a salon to have my nails done. It’s been years since I’ve entered a nail salon for anything other than a mini dusty hunt. Ultimately, I regretted it a little – the nail tech did a good job, but I’m pretty particular about my nails and I think I would have been happier doing them on my own.

(Yes! I do have thumbs!) None of the wedding photos of my nails show the beautiful shimmer of Orly Twilight, so I’ll have to post a swatch in the future. Although, I would say that this photo is a pretty accurate depiction of the overall look – Twilight is really subtle over Mademoiselle so my nails weren’t blinging all over the place.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “how was this a compromise, you totally sold out!” Well, I hope my sellout status is mitigated by my pedicure. I decided to do Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom both as a pedi and as my “something blue.” Originally, to mimic the Oscar De La Renta nails, I was planning to layer Bikini Bottom over a jelly light color like OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu or OPI Barre My Soul. That layering combination would have created a more watery, cloudy, more subtle light blue. On my toes, I didn’t think I needed to be more subtle so it’s just 3 coats of unadulterated Bikini Bottom. I think the light blue nails with the ivory shoes made a really chic combination. And, finally, the dress:

This is us! Our wedding was a really small dinner party in the middle of hot, hot, hot July (yes! we’re very newly wed!), so I decided on a short dress. My wonderful Mother-in-Law pretty much did all the planning and decorating – she’s so amazing! My dress is Sasha from the Little White Dress Collection by Amsale. The shoes are Nina in the style Neva. My Mom, a very talented seasmstress, altered it extensively and added a panel of lace to the skirt. The whole wedding was DIY for the most part, my Mom and M0m-in-Law even made my bouquet by hand! I was so happy with how everything turned out! It was a really happy day for us and we’ve been silly-happy ever since. : )

What about you all – what nail polish did you wear to your wedding?

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Disclosure: Bikini Bottom was sent to me for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge.